Ryan: Braylon Edwards starts vs. Dolphins

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan is on a conference call with the Miami media and he just said newly acquired receiver Braylon Edwards will start against the Dolphins Monday night.

"We expect him to be in the starting lineup Monday night," he said. "We're fortunate he's played in similar systems so we'll get him up to speed. And if we have to have a wristband [for the plays] with him then we will."

Ryan said the Jets gave up good players for Edwards but what the receiver does is prevent teams from stacking the box or disrespect New York's ability to go downfield.

"I think we get a receiver who draws a team's attention," Ryan said. "It's almost about what the defenses can't do to us anymore."

Interestingly, the Dolphins laid out their game plan and put it in place prior to this trade expecting Chansi Stuckey, not Edwards to be in the lineup. Said another way, the Dolphins wrote their game plan before this trade. They are practicing already. What do they do now?

As they say in the newspaper business, get me rewrite!

[Update: Well, coach Tony Sparano disagrees with me. He just said the Miami preparations don't change one iota with Edwards joining the Jets.

"No," he said. "Yesterday they had a pretty good lineup before the got Edwards. It doesn't change it at all. I think you prepare every week for good skill players. Stuckey is a pretty good player. We thought he was a pretty good player. From our end, it's just another weapon out there. You know how many weapons the team last week had? We sat here and talked about it. And the team the week before that? So every week there's a bunch of weapons out there and you have to prepare for them. From our end, the preparation really won't change."

Wow. I am shocked. And I do not agree.]

Anyhoo, Ryan said "Ronnie Brown ... is the best back we've faced," and the Dolphins are "the most physical team we've faced so far this season." But he added, "We're the most physical team they've faced."

Ryan, who interviewed for the Dolphins coaching job before Tony Sparano was hired, said he has no animosity toward the Dolphins for not hiring him.

"I went in there not really thinking I had a legitimate ... I wasn't sure about the process," Ryan said. "I got a lot more out of the interview than they did. I spent several hours with Bill Parcells ... I've approached some of the things in building football teams and all that and I've tried to do that here. I've taken some of those ideas with me."

Ryan, by the way, also said if he had one thing he could do over, it would be how he handled the Channing Crowder offseason diatribe.

"I was joking about the whole thing," Ryan said before adding jokingly, "Look, one thing I'd tell you guys is I'm not going to be hard to find out there. I'll be wearing a white jersey with a 77 on it."